WELCOME TO CHEMISTRY!

Welcome to the 2019-20 school year, students! We spent most of the first week getting to know each other and learning some of the basics of classroom procedure.  

Most of the next 175 days of instruction will be devoted to reviewing the fundamentals of Chemistry.

A major focus of interest for chemists is pursuing all the different ways that matter and energy can be arranged.  Much of that knowledge can not be predicted in advance by any theory, but instead can only be determined by experimental investigation.   For this reason, Chemistry is an 'in-between science' focused tightly on the design, performance and analysis of experiments.  This emphasis on the experiment requires chemists to use math constantly:  in a sense, Chemistry is a math course with scientific application.

To help students understand the importance of math to science, and how mastering mathematics opens doors for tackling all kinds of problems, students will be asked to consider the true story of the West End Computer Section in U.S. space program, as shown in the film 'Hidden Figures.'   They will see how an unappreciated group of human 'computers' used their abilities to approach scientific and social problems, and how they did their part to achieve great things.

Here is a brief trailer for the film.  It shows an outline of the film's story:



Also, here is a short feature about the making of the film. In this feature, you will learn how author Margo Lee Shetterly, who wrote the book on which the film was based, grew up learning about the 'human computers' at West End, and how she became convinced that she needed to tell the story of women like Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughn:

 

THE PARTICLE ADVENTURE

What's that, you say?   You're one of Mr. Hatfield's students, and the final is getting close, and you're not happy with your grade?   Are you suddenly aware that maybe, just maybe, you should've spent less time playing on your cell phone and more time actually completing work outside of class, and you wish, fervently, that there was some 'EXTRA CREDIT' to help raise your grade?

('sad trombone' sound)

SUPPOSE Mr. Hatfield not only offered an 'EXTRA CREDIT' assignment, and allowed you to submit it up to the last day of school, AND made the assignment based on 'playing with your cell phone'?  Would THAT help?

Here ya go, kiddlies:

Indeed!  Students will receive a packet today based on the charming web site 'ParticleAdventure.org',
all about quarks and other strange particles which are more fundamental than the protons and neutrons we've spend much of the year dealing with.   You can get a copy from Mr. Hatfield!  What do you have to lose?

POWER POINT NOTES: NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY

Students:

This is the FINAL set of Notes for the Spring semester!   The end is near, congratulations!

Your FINAL will be based on these notes, the (current) Chapter 25, and material from previously-taught chapters (17-24).

You can click on the image above or THIS LINK to download the notes.  

THERE IS ALSO A STUDY GUIDE, GIVEN IN CLASS, BASED ON THESE NOTES.  

If, for any reason, you were to lose that Study Guide before your Final, you can download that Study Guide as a PDF file,  HERE:

FINISHING OUR YEAR STRONG! (FINAL SYLLABUS)

Students:

Mr. Hatfield wants to remind all of you that our Unit on Organic Chemistry (Unit 8) is coming to an end on Tuesday, when students will take their Unit 8 exam.  The notes for that Test have been previously shared on a blog post.

HERE IS YOUR FINAL SYLLABUS, FOR UNIT 9:

Beginning on the very next day (Wednesday, May 14th), students will embark on their final Unit of the year, on Nuclear Chemistry----and thus 'the clock will be ticking' on any unfinished work from Unit 8.  This might include:

• (2) Handouts, given in class, totaling 40 points on naming and drawing hydrocarbons and functional groups.  These will be past due on Tuesday.

• (3) Labs, totaling 60 points, on modeling hydrocarbons, assembling esters and the polymerization of 'slime'.   Students will be expected to hand in their Comp books in class on Wednesday.

• (2) Video Worksheets, totaling 40 points, on 'Monomers and Polymers' and 'Proteins and Enzymes'.   The videos these worksheets are based on have been previously shared on a blog post.

WE MUST GO ON AND FINISH THE YEAR STRONG.   The purpose of this post is to impress upon students the importance of completing their Unit 8 work on time, so that they can earn an average to above-average grade and not have to repeat Chemistry.

POWER POINT: CARBON THE SHAPE OF LIFE

Students:

Unit 8 (Organic Chemistry) ends with a Unit Test on Wednesday, May 16th!

To help students prepare, please find the Power Point Notes HERE, along with a PDF of the Study Guide based on those notes HERE.

Students should also have a copy of the Organic Compounds Guide (three-hole punched) as part of their materials for Tuesday's Test.

ORGANIC CHEMISTRY VIDEOS

Previously, we talked about the difference between organic (based on carbon) and inorganic (based on some other element) molecules.   Life, of course, is based on organic molecules.

There are four major classes of carbon-based compounds used by living things:   carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids.

Each of these compounds is made of individual 'building blocks' called MONOMERS.   The monomers are linked together with covalent bonds to make large chains called POLYMERS, and the process of making polymers is referred to as POLYMERIZATION.

Here's a video from Bozeman Science, with animations, that gives some nice background on monomers and polymers:




Carbohydrates are carbon-based macromolecules based on C, H and O.  They are polar and readily dissolve in water.

A simple sugar by itself, like glucose, is termed a monosaccharide, and serves as a 'building block' (monomer) to build a larger chain of many molecules called a polymer. In the case of carbohydrates, the polymer made from many monosaccharides linked together by dehydration reactions is called a polysaccharide.

Examples of polysaccharides made of glucose include cellulose, glycogen and starch.   Each of these glucose polymers are biologically important. 




 Finally, here's yet another video by AP Chemistry teacher Paul Andersen, this on the class of macromolecules called PROTEINS.   



 PROTEINS often are used to build extremely useful and specific molecules called ENZYMES:


 

VIDEO: "NAMING COMPOUNDS"

In this handy video, Paul Anderson reviews the basic rules for ionic and covalent bonding.  Students should compare this video with their 'Nomenclature Review' handout, as well as the (ionic) version of the periodic table on the back of their Unit 8 syllabus.